Today At The Supreme Court: 'The Heart Of Health Care Arguments'

On Day Two of three days focused on the health care overhaul law, the Supreme Court this morning will get to the heart of the arguments over the legislation's constitutionality, NPR's Nina Totenberg reported on Morning Editionand at the Shots blog.

As she says:

"The justices are hearing legal arguments testing the constitutionality of the so-called health care mandate — so-called because those words actually do not appear in the law.

"The mandate requires virtually all legal residents in this country to have health insurance — either through Medicare, Medicaid, employer-provided insurance, or if you are not covered by any of these, individual insurance that you pay for.

"The law provides generous subsidies if you can't afford it, but you must have health insurance, and if you don't, you pay a penalty through your income taxes."

In related news, The New York Times writes that "two-thirds of Americans want the Supreme Court to overturn some or all of the health care law, even though large majorities support a few of its major aspects, according to a poll by The New York Times and CBS News."